James haeeis eogebs



(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 1.

J. H. ROGERS. TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEM AND APPARATUS.

Patented N0v.'28, 1882.

W: j %INVEN%UFF N PETERS, PhMo-Lithograwhen Wi llingtnn. ac.-

2Sheets-She'et 2..

(No Model.)

J.'H.ROGERS.' TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYS EM AND APPARATUS.

o. 268.294. Patented Nov. 28,11882..

ATTEBTi w. PETERS. Pholo-Lhhagnp'wr. Wzlhingien. n. a

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HARRIS ROGERS, OF NEW YORK, Y.

TELEPHONE-EXCHANGE SYSTEM AND APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 268,294, dated November 28, 1882.

Application filed September 4, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom at may concern Be it known that I,JAMES HARRIS Roenas, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone-EX- change Systems and Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The general object of my invention is to make the telephonesysteni described by me in Letters Patent of the United States Nos. 251,292 and 252,257 capable of use for a large number-of persons, and by combining the said system with suitable central-office apparatus, adapted to make the connections hereinafter described, to form anovel telephone-exchange system having all the capacities of those now in use, and the additional capacity of renderin g it impossible for conversation between subscribers connected at the central office to be heard by any one tapping one of the wires leading from a subscribers station to the centraloffice switch.

A further object of my invention is to render the use of the circuit breakers or shifters employed in the manner set out in my previous patents more practical, by locating the circuitbreakers at the central oflice, as hereinafter described, instead of locating and using them after the manner set forth in my prior patents, before mentioned. According to those patents a circuit breaker or shifter must be placed at each station, and for the purposes of said system, as carried out according to those patents, only one of the circuit-shifters can practically revolve at a time. It is obvious, under the plan therein proposed, that through inadvertence or ignorance of interlocutors neither circuitbreaker or both might be put into operation, in one case rendering the apparatus ineffective and in the other confusing the message.-

My invention consists in combining, in a single system or apparatus, telephone-subscribers stations connected with a central office through two or more lines of wire, in the manner hereinafter described, each of said staiions being equipped with suitable apparatus, whereby its transmitter or transmitters may be placed in-circuit between the two or more linewires on the one side leading to the central central ofiice and adapted to connect the terminals of the lines coming from any subscrihers station separately to the terminals of the lines coming from any other subscriber.

My invention also consists in the combination, with a series of subscribers stations, each connected to a central office by two or more similar line-wires, so that the telephonic currents may circulate in the same manner over either or all of said lines, of central-office apparatus suitably constructed to allow the termihals of the lines coming from any one station to be separately connected with the terminals of the lines coming from any other through a circuit breaker or shifter located at the central office and acting, in the manner already described by me in my previous pattents, to make and break the connections be tween the terminals of the lines seriatim.

My invention further consists in certain specified combinations that will be pointed out in the claims.

Figurelis a diagram illustrating one method and arrangement of apparatus that may be used in accordance with my invention. 2 is a detail side view of a circuit breaker or shifter. Figs. 3 and 4 show other arrangements of apparatus at the central office that may be employed.

In Fig. 1 I have shown my invention in connection with central-oflice apparatus adapted to connect six telephone-subscribers circuits, three only of the subscribers stations-namely, those upon the circuits 3, 4, and 5-being shown in full. At each of the subscriberss stations, AB, &c.,are located telephones and signaling apparatus, arranged substantially in the manner shown in my prior Patent No. 252,257.

D indicates the magneto call and bell, and S the telephone-switch lever, carrying at one end an insulated plate, a, which completes a circuit between the two main lines M N when the telephoneison thehook. Whentheswitch is relieved of the weight of the telephone both main lines are connected to earth or to a common return-wire through the.wires c b, the telephone-receiver R, the stop E, switch-lever Fig;

S, telephone-transmitter T, and main battery M B.

The instruments are of any desired pattern, and,as described in my prior patent,the transmitter may be arranged to work in the primary of an induction-coil instead of in the direct or main circuit.

At the central office H the main lines M N of each subscriber are suitably connected to annunciators (I, so that by operating the magneto-call D at asubscribers station the annunciator may be made to indicate a call. As here shown, the lines M N are connected through a plug-switch f, and the annunciator. By removing the plug of the switch the connection through the annunciator may be broken.

At E is indicated a series of circuit breakers or shifters, one for each pair of lines M N,

each of which circuit-shifters is constructed substantially in the manner already described in my patents before referred to, and is com posed, as is indicated in Fig. 2, of a disk half of conducting and half of non-conducting material, upon which bear two sets of springs, m a m n. The springs m m of each circuitshifter are connected each with a main line, M N, while the springs a n are joined to the central switch, as will be presently described. The effect of the circuit-shifter is to alternately complete the circuit of the main lines M N to the corresponding springs a n, as will be readily understood. The circuit-shifters are mounted upon a common shaft, 10, rotated by any suitable power acting constantly or only at the times when the lines of two subscribers are connected. The switch-board is here shown as consisting of two sets of switch-bars cross ing one another at right angles, those of one set being connected to the top springs, n, and those of the other set to the bottom springs, n, for the circuit-shifters. The bars of the various circuits, 1 to 6, are correspondingly numbered.

Bars or strips f f, of which there may be as many as is found necessary, extend across beneath each set of line-bars and are electri cally connected at the lower angle of the board, asindicated. Either bar f may be thus placed in connection with both of any two of thelinestrips which cross one another.

Telephone apparatus K, consisting of the ordinary transmitter and receiver, may be connected by means of a switch-plug, g, or any suitable device with either bar f.

F F are line-connecting strips, by means of which any two line-plates of the same set are to be connected together.

It is obvious that the bars ff might be dispensed with, and the connection between the telephone apparatus and both similarlynumbered line-strips made by inserting the plug at the intersection of the switch-board bars F F bearing the same number. The plug 9 is here shown as constructed with a divided insulated tip, such being the construction used with modifications of my invention. Such construction is, however, by no means necessary, and said plug might be of the ordinary form of switchqilugs- -via, metallic throughoutits connecting portion.

The general operation is as follows: Normally the lines MN are connected through their annuneiators d. When a signal is received at the central office the plugfot' the line calling is removed and the'springs n a of the circuit-shifter for that line are, through the correspondingly numbered line strips, connected with the common strip f, which latter may be placed in connection with the telephone apparatus K and earth in an evident manner. The telephone apparatus at the subscribers station having been also placed in connection with the ground and with both lines MN, the telephone-currents produced at either the central office or the subscribers station are, by means of the circuitshifter for that line, caused to pass in fragmentary condition over the lines in a manner and with an effect that is fully set forth in my prior patents. For the purpose of signaling to the subscribers, any suitable devices-as keys K, lines 4 and 5, adapted to introduce a magnetogenerator, M, or other suitable apparatus into the main-line circuit M N-may be employed. When two subscribers are to be connectedas, for instance, -those on circuits 4 and 5the line-plates 4 and 5 of the central-office switch that are joined to the lower springs, 'n a, of the circuit-shilters for those lines are connected together by the insertion of plugs in a lineconnecting strip, F, and in a similar way the springs n n of the same circuit-shifters are also connected together. The terminals of thelines M N of one subscribers circuit are thus connected each to a terminal of the lines M N of another circuit, and the circuit-shifters of both lines are then in circuit between them, but cannot conflict with one another, being rotated by the same shaft and in the same time. The effeet is the same as in thecase before explained, the complete path for the telephone-currents from one station being through line M or N of that station to and through the circuit-shifter for that circuit at the central station, through the switch, the circuit-shifter for the other circuit, the line M or N of that circuit, through the telephone at the other station, the earth, and to the telephone of the first-named station.

I do not limit myself to any particular construction of the switching or signaling apparatus, as the desired operations of signaling and of connecting the terminals of the lines may be performed by various devices, some of which are described herein; nor do I confine myself to the arrangement herein shown of the annunciator with reference to the main lines.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 3,instead of employing a circuit-shifter for each subscribers circuit, I arrange the circuit-shifters so that they may be interposed at pleasure be-. tween any two lines, a sufficient number of circnit shifters being used to providefor the maximum number of connections likely to be required at the same time. Under this plan when two subscribers circuits are connected a single circuit-shifter only is interposed between them, and the circuit-shifters may therefore be operated independently of one another and at any desired speeds. L L L, &c., are line plates or strips of well-known pattern, connected, as indicated, to the lines M N of each subscribers circuit, the pair of strips belonging to everycircuit being connected together at their extremity through an annunciator, d, and switch-plug f, which two latter devices are used in the same way as the same devices in Fig. 1.

P P P P are line-connecting strips, the upper pair of which is connected to the springs m m of a circuit-shifter, E, while the lower pair, P P, is connected at one end to the springs 12 a and at the other to the separate contact-stops of a telephone switch-lever, S, havingcontact-blocks t telectrically connected with the telephone apparatus W. (Here shown as an ordinary magneto receiver and transmitter.) When a call comes from any subscriber the two lines M N of his circuit are disconnected at f, and are by the bars P P connected to the circuit-shifter E, and through bars P P with the telephone W, the switch S having been relieved of the weight of the latter, so as to allow connection to be made at t t.

To connect theline calling to any other the line-strips L L of the latter are connected to the separate strips P P, the connection at t t being at the same time broken. Thus byinserting plugs at points X X X X circuits 1 and 3 are connected through the circuit-shifter E. Any other twocircuits might be connected in a similar manner through the same circuitshifter.

The connecting-bars P P P P. and circuitshifter may be duplicated or increased to any desired extent, depending upon the number of the circuits and the number of simultaneous connections that it is desired to provide for.

In Fig. 4 the two lines M N of each subscribers circuit are connected as before to the annunciator d and plug-switch f, and likewise to the two halves of a divided switch-plate, r. The device for connecting any subscribers circuit to the telephone apparatus at the central office or to any other subscribers circuit through a circuit-shifter, consists of a pair of switch-plugs, 12 12, adapted to fit the opening between the two plates r, and each divided longitudinally into two parts insulated from one another, and separately connected by flexible conductors to the springs of the circuit-shifter E in the manner shown. By inserting the two plugs 12 12 into the two plates r r of the circuits to be connected, so that the twoconducting portions of each plug 12, shall make contact separately with the two halves of each plate, the lines Maud N of the two circuits are connected intermittently and in turn by the operation of the circuit-shifter .used for signaling to a subscriber from the central office is omitted for the sake of simplicity.

I do not limit myself to any particular construction of central-ofiice switch for connectin g the lines M N separately to one another, as there are many devices that may be employed for makingthe desired connections. It is of course to be understood that any desired construction of circuit-shifter may be employed, (provided it is properly arranged and connectedto shift the connections of the lines in the manner described,) and that it may be operated by any desired means.

I do'not limit myself to the location of the circuit-shifters, as they might without departing from the spirit of my invention be located at subscribers stations.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The combinatiomt'or a telephone centraloiiice exchange, of subscribers stations each connected with a central oflice by two or more line wires, means at each subscribers station forinterposing the telephone-transmitter be,- tween said line-wires and an earth or return wire, and switch apparatus at the centraloffice for connecting the terminals of the lines coming from any subscriber separately with the terminals of the lines coming from any other subscriber.

2. The combination of a series of subscribers circuits extending from a central office and each consisting of two or more separate line-wires, as described, means at the subscribers station for connecting the transmitting apparatus to said lines alike, and switch apparatus at the central office for connecting the terminals of the lines of one circuit separately with the terminals of the lines of any other through an interposed circuit breaker or shifter, constructed, in the mannerdescribed,to alternately make and break the connections between the linewires thus connected.

3. The combination, substantially as described, of a series of telephone-subscribers stations each connected with a central ofiice by two or more line-wires, telephone communicating apparatus arranged in the manner set forth to be connected on one side to both of said lines and on the other to earth or return wire or wires, annunciators at the central ofiice interposed between said line-wires, and switch apparatus for connecting the line-wires of any q eosaou circuit separately with the line-wires of any other circuit.

4. The oombination,withtelephone-subscribers circuits each consisting of two or more line-wires, ofa central-office connecting-switch for electrically connecting the subscribers stations, and circuit breakers or shifters located at the central oflice, as and for the purpose described.

Signed at New York, in the county of New IO York, and State of New York, this 2d day of September, A. D. 1882.

JAMES HARRIS ROGERS.

VVitnesses-z H. C. TOWNSEND, THos. TOOMEY. 

